ASSIGNMENT01 : Re-imagine the social network

I started to ask myself what is the relationship between people and how they relate to each other, especially in New York City, where I’ve lived for a while. I really appreciated how this assignment is so opened to be done in any medium. I thought in the beginning that I would want to try to use real experience like an installation to interpret this social network.

Case study
During the week there was a New School block party, hence I used this chance to survey the interface of the event and how people reacted to each other in that situation. Most of things there happened randomly and melted the space and situation to be one enjoyable moment.

Then a few days after, I went to Washington Square Park and had quite interesting experience about people and musicians there as well, which they mostly never knew each other before and used music as tools to get to know others as a community.
From the case studies, I came up with 3 schemes, but on the same concept in investigation of how people live with each other in this big city.

Prototype

‘I DON’T KNOW IF THERE IS COMPASSION FROM PEOPLE IN BOXES’

This project is an investigation of the capitalism world where people are struggling to live so hard in big city, as seen clearly especially here in New York, where people, rich or poor, get from one box to another. What is the quality of living as a human being in the city? Money? Look? Networking??

7.00 AM : I wake up in the boxy tiny room in the tiny apartment.
8.00 AM : I got out of the boxy room to be in the middle of other boxy rooms in the same boxy building.
8.10 AM : I walk out of my boxy building in the middle of other boxy buildings.
8.30 AM : I get in a boxy bus with other crowded people.
8.45 AM : I get off the boxy bus to take the boxy subway train.
9.00 AM : I stand in one of many boxy subway trains with many strangers.
9.30 AM : I walk into the tall boxy building in the middle of many boxy buildings and boxy intersection space.
9.40 AM : I am in the crowded boxy elevator again with many strangers
9.45 AM : I get into another boxy room from a tiny boxy elevator. I guess the other floor must be same boxy….

Schemes
1.Chalk Installation

In this scheme, I had an initial idea from the grid line, which divided each state in US. This is a kind of an installation in gallery space with an instruction, which people have to use a chalk to draw a line around them to indicate their own space, then the next person come and draw another square and so on. Once a square overlaps with another square, there is an area from two squares to connect with each other. Hence the network begins, and more of people will come in the room.

2. Random houses webpage

This is an idea of a social network, where people come to occupy each individual box and click to another box to chat with another box randomly implying a kind of grid apartments in New York City

3. Occupying in the parallel world webpage

Simulation situation when people can stay anywhere they want by donating a little of their money. Then they can choose any address in the world and click at other address to socialize with others, one room in an apartment can have 1000 people.